Review: Paris, Je T'aime (SIFF 2007)

I'm a big fan of potluck dinners. Everyone goes off and makes something unique and different, and then everyone gets together and samples a bunch of dishes. Some are good, some are new, occasionally one isn't that great, but in the end you've tried a variety of dishes and you've filled your stomach in the process.

So it was with Paris, Je T'aime. 18 mini-movies, each no longer than five minutes, tied loosely together by the theme of love, and by characters who are only casually intertwined (in ways we don't learn until the end of the film). It's a movie-goer's potluck of sorts: you get a wide variety of small bites, and in the end you feel satisfied that you've seen a great overall movie that explores a topic through many dimensions.

The nice thing about the overall film is that the theme wasn't expressed in a singular way. Like the chefs and their secret ingredient in Iron Chef, every director has a unique style and approach to their mini-movie. Some were humorous, while others were more dramatic. Some were fast-paced, and others were more lingering. I believe there had to be an editor of sorts overseeing the project, as the spectrum of movies were carefully balanced in the entire work, as was the overall tone (it went from light, to dark, to light again).

Not every mini-movie received high marks from me (there was one quite surreal one with a salesman and an aggressive salon worker that caught me off guard and left me wondering whether someone had edited an incorrect portion of another film into the movie), but they were almost all interesting enough to deserve a viewing.

And, the best part about this project is that if you absolutely hate one of the mini-movies then, just like the weather in some parts, all you have to do is wait and something new will come along.

Overall rating: 9.0/10.0

Details:
Runtime: 120m
Countries: Lichtenstein / Switzerland / Germany / France
Languages: English / French

Where Oh Where Can I Get A Wii?

After playing the Wii a couple of times at a friend's house, I really want one. Trouble is, they're nowhere to be found.

• I've looked around online, including keeping an eye on "wii tracker" web sites that tell you when they're in stock. No luck.
• I've stopped into stores on a whim, to see if they have any in stock. No luck.

All my friends who have one scored one by following plan B above. Namely, they happened to walk into a store at just the right time and land one of a few that happened to be available. Trouble is, those times of availability are few and far between.

You may say, "Hey, there's bundles! You can get a Wii + 3-5 games!". Nope, sorry. I want the console and the games I choose to buy. The bundle games typically don't interest me.

Apparently folks on sites like Craigslist offer to sell new Wiis for a small ($50?) premium. I'm not quite that desperate...yet.

Review: Severance (SIFF 2007)

We've all seen at least one instance of the horror predator-stalks-prey movie genre, right? Movies like Saw or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Hills Have Eyes? Well, what would you get if you mixed that type of movie with a whole bunch of dry British humor and wit, and stirred it all around? Severance, that's what!

The gist of this dark-humored gorefest is that employees of Palisade, a less-than-ethical weapons manufacturer, decide to take a team-building retreat at some luxury lodge up in the woods. You've got the typical cast of characters: the optimistic boss, the undying loyalist, the slacker druggy, and a few other stereotypes to boot. As the crew makes their way up to the lodge, they come upon a fallen tree on the roadway. Because their stubborn Hungarian bus driver refuses to go on (and summarily abandons them), they decide to hike it to the lodge. Eventually, they find shelter, but it's not the lodge they were anticipating. Little things seem off (like, you know, the place is kind of a dump, and looks like an abandoned house, and it gives people bad dreams), but the optimistic manager convinces everyone to make the best of the situation and to stick with it.

Soon, things get weird. One of the employees finds files of Palisade staffers in the "lodge". A cover up of sorts tied to the weapons biz, perhaps? The employees also suspect the place used to be an asylum. And, one of the employees finds a meat pie, bakes it, and someone promptly finds a human tooth in it. Not weird enough for you? Well, soon after the employees catch wind that something is seriously wrong with the place, the cat-and-mouse game begins: some well-shadowed forces stalk, hunt, capture, and kill the employees one by one, hell-bent on not letting them escape.

I liked that this movie kept presenting scenes of horror and drama, with music blaring and tenses running high, before switching to a bit of comedy to lighten the mood and remind people that this is a horror flick with a funny bone that's not to be taken seriously. And when the funny bone has a British sense of with to it, that makes it all the more hilarious.

Overall rating: 7.0/10.0

Details:
Runtime: 90m
Countries: Germany / United Kingdom
Languages: English / Hungarian / Russian

Vosges Creates Bacon Chocolate

It's a Southerner's dream come true: applewood smoked bacon, chocolate, and a bit of alder smoked salt come together in Vosges new Bacon Chocolate Bar.

Before any non-believers start scoffing at this marriage of flavors, consider this: have you had bacon on a plate with maple syrup that's spilled onto it from the pancakes? Not bad, right? Or better yet, have you ever had bacon pancakes? Delectable. And I predict this bar will be just as tasty.

The Whole Foods near us carries Vosges; I wonder whether they have this particular bar in stock. If not, there's always mail order, though I do worry about melted chocolate in the summer.

Review: Them (SIFF 2007)

Them (Ils in French) is one of a new crop of horror and thriller movies coming out of France. And, like many of its predecessors, it doesn't fail to please those looking to get a rise in their blood pressure and finger marks on their neighbor's arm.

Them is light on character development, offering just enough to structure a premise for the plot. We encounter a young woman who's a French teacher in a school in Romania. We see her partner is a writer. They live in a big, old house in the middle of nowhere. She comes home, they have dinner, and they turn in for the night. Darkness descends over the forest surrounding their home. A perfect setup to a horror flick, right?

Soon, strange things begin to occur. A prank phone call gets them out of bed. Strange sounds raise their concerns. And, pretty soon, they fear that something is inside their house. They soon find out that they are right.

The real success of Them is that it doesn't try to shock you by portraying a lot of blood and gore. Instead, it puts you in the scene, right next to the main characters who are part of this cat-and-mouse affair, with very little knowledge of who "they" are and what "they" want. Are they people? Is it a paranormal force? Aliens? At the onset, you're not quite sure.

As the movie progresses, the true nature of the predator becomes known. But by then, a different fear takes hold, and the movie leaves you with a lasting suspense: you see that what the characters just went through is not out of this world, and is something that could indeed happen in real life.

Overall rating: 8.5 /10.0

Details:
Runtime: 77m
Country: French
Language: French, Romanian

You Know There's A Holiday Weekend Coming When...

...traffic at 8:30 in the morning is this light.

The New Yorker On A Piece Of Fallible Hardware

Almost every issue of The New Yorker now comes with an advertisement for the Complete New Yorker. You know, that deal where you can get all the issues in digital form on DVD since 1925? Well, I noticed recently that they offer the same deal on an external hard drive.

I think The New Yorker is pitching this for the following people:

• Those that have a computer, portable or otherwise, that is used offline.
• Those that want random access to any issue in the catalog.
• Those willing to cart around a fallible piece of hardware that stores their expensive content.
  

Hey, New Yorker, why not provide this as a service? So:

• You pay some monthly subscription (maybe on top of the magazine price).
• You have online access to the same digital catalog, via your web browser.
• If you expect to be offline, you can download some set of issues to read, with some time-based expiration to prevent people carting away the content without paying the subscription.
  

Minus the cost aspect, libraries do this with e-books today. Someone hosts the content (and maintains it, and backs it up, and all that). And I consume it. All this without having to cart around a hard drive (or a set of DVDs for that matter).

Still, I wonder how this is selling. Maybe I should package some blog posts on a limited edition collector's hard drive with my signature etched on the case?

SIFF 2007

Ah yes, the first holiday weekend of the warm weather months is here: Memorial Day. And what do Seattleites do? Do they barbeque? Do they spend time in the park? How about a nice walk on the beach? No! They rush inside and watch movies, away from the scary rays of the sun!

That's right, it's time again for the Seattle International Film Festival. This year we're watching about 9 movies (I know, a bit more conservative than years past). And, as usual, I'll post my reviews. The fun begins tomorrow night!

Rental Insanity

People talk about the inflated house prices out here on the West coast. There's even a blog devoted to the proposed Seattle Bubble. But sometimes you run into a rental that's offered at just as insane a price as some of the houses around here. Here's one example.

From the Craigslist post advertising the unit:

This may be the most unique apartment on Capitol Hill. It features, 18ft ceilings, modern/industrial design, large living room and bedroom, full bathroom, open style kitchen, nicely redone concrete floors and loads of charm. This is a nice private unit that has its own entrance... Located on Bellevue Ave and Harrison it's just a short walk to Broadway, Downtown, and South Lake Union...and everything you could possibly need.

Ah, a master of spin! Everything in the description, and the photos to boot, is accurate. Here's the reality:

• This is a small apartment. It's a studio, after all. It's really not that big.
• The unit was created out of an existing storage/laundry space. As a result, there's not a lot of natural light in the place.
  
• The apartment has a street-level entry door that faces a street that dead ends and leads to an alley.
• This is a street that has witnessed crime, including gun violence, in the past year.
  
• The door to the apartment has a glass face.
• The place is being offered for nearly $1500

So what we're talking about here is a small, dark studio apartment with a glass-faced door that people can peer into, that leads out to a street that you may not want to be hanging around on at around 3AM. All for the low low price of $1500! What a steal!

What else can you get for $1500 on Capitol Hill? A nice 2-bedroom apartment, easy. That very same building has decent-sized 1 bedrooms, without the needless street-level entry, for just over $1000.

At least the market has been honest with this one: it's been available for rent for many months now, with no takers. Serves the owner right: this is an insane offer.

Signs It's Spring-Like In Seattle

You know Seattle's coming out of winter hibernation when there's outdoor festivals and fairs and such. For example, the University District Street Fair is this weekend. And, as of Saturday morning, it's actually sunny! Quick, get out there before it rains!

License To Abridge

I came across Compact Classics today, modern life's apparent answer to the lack of time to read classic novels. From the sales copy:

WHAT ARE COMPACT EDITIONS? Compact Editions are some of the greatest books ever written, but they have been sympathetically edited so that most of them are under 400 pages. They retain all the elements of the originals: the plot, the characters, the social, historical and local backgrounds and the authors' language and style. The reductions in length have been done with sensitivity and in no way detract from the spirit of the original.

Whoa, hold on. These are classics like David Copperfield, Jane Eyre, and Moby Dick. Sure, they're not the shortest of books. But chopping them down to make them sellable to people to busy for them? Well, I don't buy it. I don't care how "sympathetic" the edits are. They're edits. They're changes to the original work, done by someone who's not the author. That means you're not reading the original book.

What's next? A version of Mahler's Ring cycle cut down to just a few arias for each opera? Movies edited to just the action scenes?

I'm all about making things easier or more efficient. But I draw the line when it comes to art.

A Night At The Museum

When the Seattle Art Museum was finally ready to reopen after finishing its newly-expanded facility, what more Seattle-y way to celebrate than to stay open 35 hours straight, bring over some performers and DJs, and open the museum for all, for free? That's indeed what they did, and people (including a group of us) turned out in droves.

We showed up around 11pm and there were a ton of people there. The old, the young, the conservative, the punk, the extroverts and the introverts all came out to see the new museum. Sounds like nerdy way to spend a Saturday night? Not really - it felt more like a party someone threw in a big, big house with a lot of art. And music. And dancing.

The main floor opens up to a large entry area featuring a large piece of art that includes cars and flashing streams of light (yeah, you kinda have to see it for yourself). From there, there's a shop and restaurant on the bottom floor, and two floors of art upstairs.

As for the art, there's a bit of everything. Classical Greek sculpture, Chinese landscapes, Native American woodworking, Renaissance portraits, and quite a bit of contemporary art (including a Pollock and a Warhol). The new space affords some mixture of media which not only allows for things like video installations, but also lets one, say, observe Native American art while viewing a documentary on the artists.

We spent about two hours there and felt like we had looked at everything, but not really studied it. But after a while, our feet were tired, and watching others groove to the beat was wearing us out, so we decided to go to a neighborhood bar and grab a beer.

Thumbs up to SAM - great job with the new space. We'll be returning soon.

The Internet Hasn't Killed The TV Star (yet)

Today I saw an article about MySpace launching a show about politics. I reflected on how much TV or video I actually watch on the Internet today. The answer: not much at all.

Sure, I watch the occasional YouTube video of something funny or cute, especially if someone sends it to me. But those are usually 1-3 minutes long, and not an episode-length sitcom or drama by any stretch of the imagination.

However, more and more production of video for the Internet is being planned. And I don't think I'll watch much of it at all, unless it's really good. Why? Because the Internet isn't integrated into my living room. I want to watch those shows on my TV, while sitting on my couch. It's a pain to watch long stretches of video elsewhere.

"But George," you may say, "you can do that! You can get a Media PC, or get MythTV going". Yeah, but I perceive it as a hassle to setup, and I would be entering a world where there woudl be lots of extra software and hardware that I have to deal with and manage. Despite the lack of streaming and immediacy, it's pretty easy for me to NetFlix over some DVDs, put them in my player, and watch them.

Am I asking for the impossible? I don't know. I guess what I want is an easy delivery mechanism of Internet-published TV shows, with the ease of flipping on my TV and watching them. To that end, I'm intrigued by the video possibilities of the XBox 360 and the Wii, for streaming video and browsing the 'Net. If the content is good, and I don't feel constricted to only certain types of content that someone is pushing to me, then networked consoles may be my golden ticket.

Anyone have an ideal setup for watching whatever video content they wish on their TVs?

Winners Of The Attention Market

I'm not a big fan of advertisements. That said, in the market of attention, these advertisements are certainly creative and attention-getting.

So do ad people really sit around and think of ways to do this? I have to admit that sounds kind of fun.

Did I just lose a karma point?

I Have No Twitter Friends

I've tried to use Twitter, the reported panacea of all things "what are my friends up to?". But I can't seem to find any of my friends' handles, in order to add them to see what they're up to, or for them to see what I'm up to.

Which brings me to the question: if you twitter something that no one reads, are you just wasting time?

From The "Did You Consider The Train?" Department

A quick, odd news item: apparently, you can arrange for a cab to take you on a cross-country trip. But really, is it much better than a train, given the cost?

Sorry I've been amiss at posting. The move sucked a lot of time. I think we're back to normal schedule-wise, so expect more updates soon.

The Story Behind The Picture

Here's the picture.



Now, I'm curious what people think the story is behind the picture. Extra credit if you guess without clicking through.

For those that are stumped: I'll post the backstory soon.

Update: OK, here's the backstory. We were at Gay Bingo a few weeks ago. The March edition had a 70's theme to it, and folks had decked out their polyester best. Anyway, back in the January edition of Gay Bingo, Glamazonia (the host) mentioned that she had a MySpace page. Later on, I added her as a friend.

Now, fast forward to the March Gay Bingo. We're sitting at our table, which was located right off the main path between the front doors and the stage. I'm chowing down on a pork sandwich, in between bingo games. All of sudden, I hear Glamazonia over the PA: "Hey, I know you!".

At this point, I think, "Oh, she's talking to Steven." You see, Steven is a friend of ours that lives in Glamazonia's building, and they know each other. They must be chatting it up, I think. But then, I look up, and I see Glamazonia towering over me, pointing a finger at me, with a spotlight illuminating her and everything around me.

Gulp.

Glamazonia continues: "You're on my MySpace!" She comes over to my side and reaches out her hand to shake. "Let's make a MySpace connection!". Now, everyone at my table is cracking up, as I try to scarf down the bite of sandwich, raise a thumbs-up, and shake her hand all at the same time. Then, Glamazonia calls over the photographers to take a few pictures of our introduction.

So there's the story behind the picture. A 7' tall drag queen, 800+ people, and me.

We're Buying A House

As in tomorrow. As in we're signing the papers and handing over a big check for the down payment and closing costs and getting the keys on Friday and then putting up blinds and painting a few walls. As in moving in in about a week and a half. As in officially out of our apartment by the end of the month.

I guess it'll sink in by the time I sign the gajillionth piece of paper. I'm pretty it'll get to the point of legal absurdity where I'll sign something saying that I won't sue the paper or ink manufacturers for any distortion of the words on any of the other contracts I've signed. You know, just to be sure I don't sue.

I didn't blog about our house hunt primarily because we were busy doing the whole house buying process. But now that we're close to moved in and done with it, I'm consider posting what we did and what we experienced, if only to benefit some other first-time buyer out there.

Or wait, was I the last one to buy? :)

Pineapple Express

Yes, we're in the midst of a Pineapple Express this weekend, which is a Kindergarten way of saying "warmer and wetter than usual", weather-wise. Combine that with an earlier-than-normal daylight saving time this year, and most of Seattle is currently groggy and gray.

Strike Two For East Roy: Coco La Ti Da Shuttered

I think 809 E Roy Street is officially cursed, especially when a good restaurant moves into the place. First it was Fork. Now, Coco La Ti Da is closing its doors, just a few months after it opened (and when I wrote about the great time we had there).

One thing that doesn't make sense to me is McCown's quoted reason for parting ways:

McCown said balancing wholesale and retail operations proved to be too much. "I'm not the business side of it, I'm the creative side. I was getting farther and farther away from what I wanted to do."

I can understand being overwhelmed and having to do stuff you don't want to do. But, come on, Sue: you've been in the biz a while now. Wasn't the work required to keep wholesale and retail open foreseen? And, even if it wasn't, couldn't you have hired someone to help with the business end of things?

Every time we visited Coco, the place was packed. And the food & drink wasn't cheap, so I'm guessing revenue wasn't the reason Coco's shuttering.

I suppose it's more complicated than what Sue decided to share with the restaurant beat critic at the Seattle Times. Still, I'll lament the fact that there's now one less dessert place in the neighborhood.